The Ins and Outs of Using Woodturning Chisels

Scraping or shearing?
The very mention of this question brings forth an age-old argument between differing factions of wood-turners. Here's how we describe the difference. Scraping is the act of cutting the wood with only the tip of your chisel.

Shearing, on the other hand is a much older turning technique than scraping and is accomplished by cutting with the chisel tip...while the bevel of the chisel is rubbing against the rotating timber at the same time (see illustration). Let's repeat that...by rubbing the bevel of the chisel against the timber as you cut (through the entire cut), you're shearing.

Shearing is by far, the fastest and cleanest turning method. It can be learned only with a great deal of practice and should be a goal for all novice turners. And since shearing is a more difficult technique to master, scraping seems to be the most popular approach for beginners...even though many experienced turners also scrape occasionally.

Shaping the beads
TIP: Always keep the bevel of your chisel against the stock as you cut the bead from the largest to the smallest diameter.

Once you've rounded your stock and made your sizing cuts, the next step with most wood turning projects is to turn the beads (or hills). This is usually accomplished with a standard Skew chisel. However, depending upon the size of your beads and the amount of space between them, you may need to use a smaller chisel such as one of those in Shopsmith's Wood-Turning Mini-Set.

Shaping the coves
After you've formed your beads, move on to shaping the coves (or valleys). Start by selecting the best gouge for your application. For most projects, a 1" or 3/8" Gouge will do the job quite nicely. However, if your coves are to be narrower than these gouges, you'll have to use a smaller Gouge for this job. Again, Shopsmith's Wood-Turning Mini-Set includes both a 1/8" wide and a 1/4" wide Gouge. Either of these three may be exactly what you need. You may form these coves by shearing or scraping...it's your choice.

If you elect to use a scraping technique, you may use your Gouges...or use a Roundnose, if you prefer. This scraping technique is accomplished by moving the chisel back and forth while holding it level.

After scraping a spindle, you'll need to sand it. Turn the speed of your Lathe down to “slow” and start with an 80-grit sandpaper folded into thirds. Never wrap the sandpaper around your stock.

After you're satisfied with your 80-grit results, move to successively finer grit sandpapers until you've achieved the smoothness you desire. Remember to always swing your tool rest out of the way when sanding under power on the Lathe....to avoid getting your hand caught between the spinning project and your tool rest.

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